Trump signs orders advancing Keystone, Dakota pipelines

By Julie Pace AP White House Correspondent

Published 12:57 pm, Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Photo: AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File

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In this Jan. 16, 2015, file photo, Jim Tarnick of Fullerton, Neb., points to the route of the Keystone XL pipeline which is planned to run through his property. President Trump’s decision to restart the Keystone XL pipeline approval process was disheartening but not surprising to Tarnick, who told the Associated Press on Tuesday, Jan. 24 that he and other landowners who oppose it will continue to fight, although he hopes he doesn’t have to do it for the rest of his life. less

In this Jan. 16, 2015, file photo, Jim Tarnick of Fullerton, Neb., points to the route of the Keystone XL pipeline which is planned to run through his property. President Trump’s decision to restart the ... more

Photo: AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File

Trump signs orders advancing Keystone, Dakota pipelines

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WASHINGTON >> President Donald Trump moved to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines Tuesday, a pair of projects that were blocked by the Obama administration due in part to environmental concerns. Both orders are subject to renegotiations of the agreements.

Trump also signed a notice requiring the materials for the pipelines to be constructed in the United States, though it was unclear how he planned to enforce the measure.

“From now we are going to start making pipelines in the United States,” Trump said from the Oval Office.

The Republican governor said in a tweet Tuesday that the pipeline drives economic growth and is good for national security.

Trump has sought to focus his first full week in office on jobs and the economy. Republicans, as well as some unions, have cited the pipeline projects as prime opportunities for job growth.

Groups including the MAIN Coalition, National Manufacturers Association, The Building Trades and the Laborers’ International Union of North America are calling Tuesday’s orders a victory for workers and consumers.

Association of Oil Pipe Lines CEO Andrew Black says the two pipelines also will help the goal of “plentiful, affordable energy” for consumers.

North Dakota Petroleum Council President Ron Ness also touts “energy and economic security.”

Former President Barack Obama stopped the proposed Keystone XL pipeline in late 2015, declaring it would have undercut U.S. efforts to clinch a global climate change deal that was a centerpiece of his environmental legacy. The pipeline would run from Canada to Nebraska where it would connect to existing lines running to U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast. The U.S. government needs to approve the pipeline because it would cross the nation’s northern border.

Separately, late last year, the Army Corps of Engineers declined to allow construction of the Dakota Access pipeline under Lake Oahe, saying alternative routes needed to be considered. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its supporters say the project threatens drinking water and Native American sites, though Energy Transfer Partners, the company that wants to build the pipeline, disputes that and says the pipeline will be safe.

The pipeline is to carry North Dakota oil through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois.

Law enforcement officers are gearing up in southern North Dakota for any protest activity in the wake of President Donald Trump signing executive actions advancing construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline.

Morton County sheriff’s spokeswoman Maxine Herr said Tuesday that plans are in place to deal with “illegal potential protest activities” along the pipeline route near the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation. She didn’t release details.